Kindness Repaid
by Catlover friendly-but-xplosive
Summary: Liara got pickpocketed in a back alley on Earth once... she never expected to meet the pickpocket again. Earthborn Shepard. T for mild language. Eventual Liara x Shepard.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This story came out of nowhere. Just hit me and begged to be written. So I did. Hope you like the result, and please review! I love favourites, but reviews are better :D

Disclaimer: Sadly, not mine. I'm just playing in Bioware's sandpit.

**Kindness Repaid**

Liara T'Soni was visiting Earth.

Yes, her primary interest was in the Protheans, but that didn't mean she didn't visit other places too. She liked to know about the galaxy around her and the species she came into contact with, and humans were just starting to become important to know. So she made it a point to visit Earth when she found herself nearby.

She had intended to stay close to the civilised areas, but gotten lost and found herself in a dirty, smelly street that made her wrinkle her nose in disgust. The humans here weren't well dressed or polite like the humans she had already spoken with; they were staring at her with unashamed curiosity and hostility, as dirty and smelly as their surroundings.

She stared at the ground, not wanting to appear threatening. Unsure how to treat these humans, she decided to proceed with the caution she'd treat a wild animal. The hard, desperate looks in their eyes made it clear that they were just as dangerous.

Movement. Someone shuffled their feet. Another cracked their knuckles. Nervously she edged along the street and prayed to the Goddess that she would find herself somewhere safe and civilised again.

Swift feet nearby caught her attention and someone fumbled at her belt, an inexpert pickpocket to be sure, a young girl so thin she was little more than skin and bones. Intending to rouse on the thief, she found her blue eyes so startling that she froze. Meanwhile, the impetuous child secured her purse and held it with grubby and bony hands, meeting her eyes boldly.

"Ally, are you crazy?" someone whispered from behind a dumpster. Another child, peeking out nervously and vanishing again the moment she looked at her. The child called Ally didn't move, daring her to take the purse back.

She looked so ragged and desperate that she could not bring herself to take her purse back. She had more money and this child needed it more than her. Besides, anyone bold enough to stare their mark down while holding their purse deserved some kind of reward.

"Keep it," she told her and the girl's eyes widened in shock. Before she could change her mind, she sprinted back behind the dumpster, holding her prize as if it were a precious artefact. Liara smiled at her gall before continuing on, aware that the other humans here would view her as weak now and she had to leave. But she glanced back to see those startling blue eyes watching her from behind the dumpster, and the child smiled after her tentatively.

She returned the smile.

XX

Hanging in a Prothean stasis field she wasn't too keen to start questioning her rescuers. Afterwards, they were running for their lives and she didn't have the time. But after she'd recovered somewhat and Shepard came to check on her, she did start asking questions.

And those startlingly blue eyes bore straight into her as she did so, the human answering with a strange combination of impeccable military manners and honest compassion. She couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity that was filling her as Shepard answered her questions and asked some of her own.

It was only after she left that she remembered the little girl behind the dumpster, the tentative smile, the bold but clumsy pickpocket, and she laughed out loud. Her boldness had not deserted her, and it was good to see that she'd made something of her life.

First human Spectre! Who'd have thought that a clumsy pickpocket living behind a dumpster in a back alley would ascend so far?

Kindness repaid, indeed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: The promised continuation :) At first I was a little skewy about it, but its really come easily- and man, I do love my own Shepard. LOL. Thanks to everyone who reivewed and asked for a continuation, and especially to cuteaccent, who kept messaging me and gave me the idea for romance.**

Allandra Shepard was pragmatic to a fault. She pilfered freely from containers that did not belong to her because "if they meant to keep their stuff they wouldn't have left it lying around." Her explanation for saving Elysium during the Blitz? "They ruined my shore leave."

Liara had never felt the attraction for humans that the rest of her kind seemed to feel, but she found Allandra Shepard (who still went by Ally) very attractive indeed. She'd sacrifice a dig for her; and precious little was more important to her than the Protheans.

Given that she'd had a Prothean vision, though...

At first her interest was entirely clinical- something that Shepard had teased her about until she was a blushing and quivering ball wanting to sink through the deck plating and never be seen again. Then the human laughed cheerfully and clapped her on the shoulder.

"It keeps you on my ship? I welcome it," she grinned, revealing a gap where her right molar should be. Through more blubbering apologies, Liara managed to ask about the gap.

"Oh, that? Got the shit beat out of me," she shrugged. "Alliance offered to fix it but it just shows I'm dangerous." She grinned, showing the gap off again. It was a very childish gesture, but one that suited her to a fault.

This was what endeared Liara to Allandra Shepard as a person rather than an object of interest.

Over time, as she got to know her better, she kept getting more interesting. She spent a lot of time talking to her while the Normandy was in FTL, and Liara found herself tongue tied more often than not- an embarrassing situation. Here she was, asari, older than Shepard would ever be- and she couldn't string two words together properly in her presence.

And Shepard knew it. She grinned cheerfully at her, ribbed her mercilessly for it, and once shut her babbling up with a kiss on the cheek that stopped the asari's heart.

_Goddess…_ dazed she could only watch Shepard leave the room and clap Doctor Chakwas cheerfully on the shoulder, easily spinning into a conversation with her as the door shut between them, cheeks heating up.

Shepard was so confident, so outgoing. Liara admired and respected her; as much as she didn't want to admit it, she looked up to her. In her 30 odd years of life, Shepard had achieved more than she ever had. Even though she was only a maiden, her only claim to fame was researching a dead race.

She also couldn't help but notice how very attractive Shepard was. Even with the scar she claimed to have come from a knife fight under her right eye (though she was known to enhance the truth when it came to scars) and the missing molar, she was easily the most attractive human Liara had ever met. Those models just didn't come close. It was the humour in her eyes, her warm laugh and genuine care for her crew. Her childish ways masked a brutal upbringing and life so effectively, yet Liara had seen her in battle; she was a truly frightening sight.

And there she went again, blushing furiously merely at the thought of her. Oh, Goddess. She was such a mess. Determinedly she turned to her console and tapped away, trying to outrun the blush, or at least outthink it.

The door hissed open.

Footsteps.

Silence, but she knew that Shepard was grinning at her turned back, missing molar showing, waiting for her to acknowledge her. She felt a smile cracking her own face and tried to hide it.

The footsteps approached and stopped again. Shepard was coming closer. She rigidly held her own impassive expression and again, the human moved closer, now standing right behind her.

Light fingertips grazed her exposed shoulders, burning where they touched and sending a delightful chill down her spine. Warm breath on her neck, her fingers efficiently working the knots from her neck and shoulders and making her eyes roll back in her head in contentment. A sigh escaped her and she stopped typing on her console.

"You work too hard." Shepard's voice was thick as she moved her massage up to where her neck and head met and encountered a particularly painful knot. She winced and pulled away, but gently, oh so gently, Shepard pulled her back and probed the knot.

Liara fought to hold still. This hurt but was always worth it.

"Hang on," Shepard's voice was intense with concentration as she placed her hands on both sides of her neck and twisted it twice, once one way then back. A sudden sharp pain radiated from the knot and had her wincing, but when Shepard probed it again, it hurt less.

"Better?" Liara turned her chair around to see Shepard's brow furrowed with her focus and she just smiled, gingerly touching her neck. Shepard leaned close to her and her breath flagged momentarily. Unconsciously she licked her lips.

But all Shepard did was probe at the knot again to make sure it was gone. Disappointment filled her but she tried to mask it. She didn't want her feelings to ruin this… whatever it was they had going.

As she was moving away, however, she caught a glimpse of Shepard's eyes, and the desire filling them was unmistakeable. Then it was gone, so fast she wasn't sure it had ever been there.

But she could hope, and hope she did.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I know this story is still marked as complete. I will be adding to it as more comes to me but its not incomplete, as such, so I'm leaving it as complete. It's more of a... watch this space, thing.**

Shepard was never exactly forthcoming about her past. She spoke of it briefly if asked directly and was unable to weasel out of the question with a smile and "Oh, nothing exciting," but never brought it up herself and seemed uncomfortable discussing it in more detail than "I grew up on the streets."

Everyone had their own issues, though, and she managed to neatly bury hers under the pile. One day Liara met with Ashley, Garrus, Kaidan and Tali and said that it wasn't good enough. Wrex had been invited but declined, though he did say he wouldn't tell Shepard. She needed to talk about herself too.

Ashley was the first to bring it up and she neatly sidestepped the question.

"Street life, ma'am? That must leave some scars," she said faux-casually, and Shepard saw right through her.

"Fist fight, knife fight," she replied with an easy grin, indicating the missing molar and long scar under her right eye respectively.

"Knife fight?" Ashley asked, interested, and she regaled her with a grand tale of a rivalry between herself and a boy called Ren which had culminated in an inept knife fight in which she'd nearly come away blind in one eye and he'd almost lost a finger, which distracted Ashley completely from her original question.

Garrus had no further luck.

"Hey, Commander," he began, looking decidedly nervous, "You know about my past. What about yours?" Again, the charm turned up full force, she smiled the smile that had melted bones before.

"Eh, nothing exciting. My life began when I enlisted, you know?" He tried again, valiantly.

"But the Blitz, surely that was exciting," he said, and she laughed, a deep throated sound.

"My war stories aren't that exciting, Garrus, no more than your C-sec raids. Only I didn't have to fill out as much paperwork about them." She stuck her tongue through the gap where her molar should be at him and he raged about paperwork and C-sec and forgot all about his questions.

"Hey Shepard," Tali said cheerfully when she entered engineering, a small smile lurking on her lips. "Got a minute?"

"Course," she said and leaned comfortably against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest casually.

"Your engine is off," the quarian said and the human quirked an eyebrow skeptically.

"Take it to Adams," she said and he laughed from the other side of the engine room. Tali… well, she thought she smiled under the helmet.

"Anyway, that wasn't what I wanted. I just wanted to let you know… well, I've told you so much about myself and my life and... I'm here if you want to talk." The human grinned crookedly at her.

"Who else is in on it?" she asked.

"In on what?" Tali asked too fast and Shepard laughed and hugged the quarian.

"Nice try, Tal," she murmured in her ear.

Kaidan took one look at her and knew that she knew.

"I don't suppose it's worth trying?" he asked and she grinned at him, a grin that sent his heart flip flopping in his chest. He forgot his question for a moment.

"Worth trying what?" she asked innocently and he blushed slightly.

"Don't make me say it, Commander," he groaned and she grinned again.

"That's alright. I'll drag it out of Liara. I suppose she engineered this whole thing? Of course she did," she answered her own question. "As you were, Kaidan." The combination of military dismissal and friendly goodbye caught him off guard and suddenly her saying his name was the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard.

"Hello would-be-Abby-number-five," Shepard announced from the door and Liara blushed brilliantly. She didn't know the expression, but she knew that smug tone. Oh, Goddess…

"Or should I say number one? You were totally behind this."

"Shepard, I…" she began, spinning to face her, but the woman was grinning.

"And I appreciate it. Really. But I'm not confiding in anyone- not that I've anything to confide," she added, but just a second too late. Liara frowned and Shepard scrunched her nose at her.

"Don't you make that face at me," she said.

"Shepard, if you need to talk…"

"I promise I'll be a good girl and be back before curfew, _mum_," Shepard tossed over her shoulder as she walked out, but her voice had an edge it hadn't had when she walked in.


	4. Chapter 4

Shepard strode into the airlock as if everything was normal, only the slight hitch as she stepped on her left leg said otherwise. Her hissed intake of breath whenever she stepped on it concurred.

But Liara had to hand it to her; from her face you could hardly tell. And her gait, too, seemed normal to someone who hadn't spent a long time with her. None of the colonists were suspicious after all. It could be that they were shaking the effects of the Thorian off. Though, maybe they just expected the legendary Commander Shepard to be indestructible.

It was an opinion that they were all starting to share, to be honest. Nothing threw her; put anything in her path and she took it in her stride, be it a crying child or a charging krogan. She had to be shoved into the medbay and only Doctor Chakwas could keep her there, and only if she kept a sharp eye on her prisoner at all times.

The Commander had a real skill for pulling disappearing acts.

Locking the door didn't help either. Shepard had grown up burgling and thieving. She downplayed all injuries, be it a graze to the knuckles or a bullet to the shoulder, if she acknowledged them at all.

Liara had been told it was a gang thing, though she was fairly certain military came into it too. She'd noticed Ashley and Kaidan shrugging things off a lot as well.

But this one must have been bad, for once she got in the airlock and the doors shut behind her, Shepard leaned against a wall and sighed in relief, placing her left foot atop her right one. Both Garrus and Liara frowned in concern but as soon as she noticed them watching her she straightened again.

The door opened with a chime and the ship's VI announced that the CO was aboard. As usual she stopped to talk to Joker before heading to her quarters, chatting to everyone she passed as she did so.

Liara headed to the medbay and quietly told Doctor Chakwas that Shepard may need medical attention and the doctor sighed.

"That woman," she muttered. "I'll go and see her."

As she left Liara hoped she'd done the right thing and that Shepard wouldn't get mad at her.

Not ten minutes later Doctor Chakwas returned, dragging Shepard with her. The look the Commander directed Liara's way made her flinch back into her room and shut the door.

"I'm fine, doc," Shepard insisted. She could hear her through the wall.

"No you're not," the doctor replied firmly. "Stay here, Shepard." Soft footsteps attempted to leave the infirmary then froze. "_Stay_."

A laboured sigh and Shepard plopped back on the bed, clearly pouting. It was a most unbecoming habit of hers that she used to charm her way out of things and it worked on everyone.

Everyone except Doctor Chakwas.

"That won't work on me Commander. _Sit. Down._" It was obvious the Commander gave up after that for Chakwas moved away and she didn't try to escape. The next few minutes consisted of Shepard whining and wincing in turn, but as soon as it was silent Liara poked her head out cautiously.

"The Commander's fine," Chakwas said. "Just pulled a muscle. I've told her to rest until we get to Noveria."

"And you expect her to follow your orders?" Liara asked.

"No," the doctor said dryly. "Which is why I'm sending a message to the rest of the crew to send her back to her quarters if she comes to visit them."


	5. Chapter 5

Shepard returned to her cabin. She even stayed there.

Fifteen minutes later, however, she escaped.

She first visited Kaidan, who clumsily tried to turn her away while making eyes at her and she knew the doctor had sent messages to everyone to tell them she was infirmed. She rolled her eyes and went into the lift.

Wrex greeted her with his typical grunt of "Shepard." Knowing that she couldn't persuade him to talk small talk with her she said goodbye.

"Wrex."

Ashley was next and just as clumsy at turning her away as Kaidan. She stayed with her though, hearing the last of an audio message from a sister that said just how hot Kaidan was.

"Alenko, huh?" she asked slyly and Ashley blushed bright red.

"Scuttlebutt says he's interested in…" she glanced up at her, went redder and hurriedly stared back at her boots, "Someone else." She barely suppressed her sigh. She'd noticed that Kaidan was quite taken with her; she'd had experience with this kind of thing. But honestly she saw him as a brother in arms. She trusted him with her life but wasn't interested in him. Maybe she was being too friendly and informal.

"Later, Ash," she said absently and wandered off.

Garrus either hadn't got the message or really wanted to talk to her, as he immediately launched into a tale about a Doctor Saelon when she wandered up to him. Tali and Adams were grappling with the engine when she entered and swearing in two different languages greeted her. She hurriedly backed out again. That left Liara, and since she lived in the back room of the infirmary…

She was _bored_, not _suicidal_. She went to the cockpit and Joker grinned wryly at her.

"Everyone else fell through?" he asked and she sat in the co-pilot's chair, spinning it to face him.

"Ashley is hot for Kaidan, Garrus is ranting about C-sec, Wrex is Wrex and Tali is wrestling with an engine and Adams at the same time," she replied. Joker chuckled.

"And Alenko is making eyes at you and stammering like a kid?" he asked grinning and Shepard smiled.

"You know it, Joker," she replied and they sat in silence until Chakwas contacted him over the radio.

"Joker, send the Commander back to her room," the doctor sighed, and Shepard rolled her eyes.

"If I see her I'll tell her you said that," he said straight faced and Shepard sat quiet as a mouse. Chakwas sighed.

"Shepard, back to your room, now," she ordered and cut the link. The Commander made a face.

"Nag nag nag," she muttered, and stayed put.

Ten minutes later, Chakwas came by personally to escort her back. As she was dragged from the cockpit Joker laughed at her.

"You need to rest that leg," Chakwas said sternly.

"I was sitting down!" Shepard protested. The doctor shot her a quelling look and she subsided, allowing her to lecture her in silence and lock the door to her cabin once she was safely on the other side.

Then, just because she could, she picked the lock.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This time round was inspired by my mother and Joker's porn- seperately of course. I hereby exonerate my mother of all involvement in this madness other than the suggestion of movie night. Joker's porn was entirely my own twisted fault. I hope you enjoy it and thanks to everyone who is following this and has reviewed, alerted or favourited this story. Please don't hesitate to review- I reply to every review :)**

It wasn't unusual for Shepard and Liara to watch movies until late and fall asleep in the room off the infirmary, particularly when in FTL. Corny old Earth movies, mostly. Liara insisted on some new movies, and Shepard readily enough agreed.

It was enjoyable, but not how she'd have chosen to spend the evening.

Now, however, Shepard was insisting on sharing this madness with the whole crew.

"Movie night," she insisted, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly as Liara gaped at her as if she'd grown an extra head. "It'll be fun."

"You're insane, Shepard," Liara finally said faintly.

"You like our nights together," Shepard said, and a touch of blue hit Liara's cheeks as she contemplated the other meaning of _our nights together._ Hurriedly she steered herself away from those thoughts.

"Yes, but that's just you and me. Why drag the rest of the crew into it?" In truth, she liked Shepard's company and having the woman fall asleep on her shoulder more than the movies. She was never big on movies, particularly the old Earth ones Shepard favoured.

"Because it'll be fun," Shepard pouted, and that did Liara in. She clenched her hands at her side, curled her fingers into her shirt in order to not poke the adorable dimples that formed whenever Shepard pouted.

"Fine," she sighed, beaten. "But you're inviting the others, not me."

In the end it took very little effort to drag the others into it. Ashley it seemed loved old movies. Kaidan would do anything that Shepard wanted. Tali was eager to learn more about human culture, and Adams wanted to watch something called 'Starship Troopers'. Shepard laughed and said maybe. Garrus took more effort; he was brooding over Saeleon, but she eventually twisted his arm. Wrex shot her a look that plainly conveyed his opinion that she was insane but shrugged and agreed anyway. Pressly claimed to be an expert on old Earth movies and Joker wouldn't have missed it for the world. Doctor Chakwas sighed and said that if Shepard insisted on not resting she should be there to watch her, but Liara caught a glimmer of amusement in her eyes as she said it.

It was arranged for that night. They were expected to reach Noveria the next day so this was the perfect chance, Shepard claimed, to watch movies and eat popcorn.

"Eat what?" Liara asked, alarmed.

Despite her better judgement, however, Liara was there, holding a bowl of something white and salty in her lap. Tali looked mournfully at the bowl of 'popcorn' and Shepard patted her shoulder. Garrus took one look at the stuff and claimed dextro-amino exception. Wrex tasted it and proclaimed it tame. Which left the humans to fight over it. And fight they did.

Shepard claimed the whole bowl for herself, but Ashley punched her for it. Meanwhile, Kaidan tried to steal the bowl but the cook held it back. Pressly, normally reserved, became a beast as he tried to claim his share and Adams started shocking people with his omnitool to get through. Shepard punched him for it and Ashley took the opportunity to charge forward to get the popcorn, only to be blocked by Kaidan.

It only degenerated from there.

The alien crew members stared in bewilderment as Joker recorded the whole thing, knowing he wouldn't stand a chance in the thick of it.

"The Popcorn Brawl!" he announced cheerfully. "You watch, when I upload this it'll go viral."

Eventually the mess was sorted out by the cook portioning individual servings of popcorn to everyone after threatening to dump the lot down the drain if they didn't control themselves. Shepard sat next to Liara and snagged some of hers casually. Liara let her.

With no love of speeches, Shepard simply turned the movie on after announcing that they were going to watch 'Star Wars'. Liara had seen this one before; she relaxed.

But what played on the screen was not 'Star Wars'.

It was porn.

Asari porn, to be exact, and everyone instantly turned to Joker, who sniggered. Garrus muttered something about not wanting to see under the armour and left. Wrex made a comment about how soft and breakable they were and, thoroughly unimpressed, began to clean his gun. Tali, looking flustered, suddenly realised that the engine was off and scurried out. Ashley excused herself with a faint noise of disgust. Kaidan stared at the screen for a moment before turning away sharply and practically diving out the room, scarlet. Pressly decided that this wasn't his kind of movie and he and Adams left together to have a drink. Chakwas sighed her sad doctor sigh and left the room.

Shepard shrugged and sat back, offering her bowl of popcorn to Liara, then turned her avid attention to the screen, and Liara realised that she liked asari. Well, of course she knew that she liked asari, but she now knew that she _liked_ liked asari.

For a second she couldn't breathe, and distracted herself by listening to the breathy moans of the asari on screen- which really didn't help any. She took a piece of Shepard's popcorn and popped it into her mouth, focussing on the salty taste as it slipped down her throat, nearly gagging on it. The breathy moans continued, counterpointed by Wrex's rhythmic gun cleaning, and Liara, against her better judgement, stayed with Shepard, who was exchanging commentary on the video with Joker, and it became immediately clear that she had watched this sort of thing before, a lot by the sounds of it.

Really, the only good thing that came out of that night (aside from the happy revelation of Shepard's inclinations that is) was that it was the last.


	7. Chapter 7

Liara couldn't look Shepard in the eye after 'movie night', and was grateful when they reached Noveria, as the woman sat cheerfully in her room and chattered away as if nothing had happened. Liara was bright blue, she knew, but could do nothing about it. Now she knew that Shepard liked asari (or at least their porn) she was analysing every interaction they'd ever had over and over again.

It was maddening, and she leapt up when they dropped out of FTL to armour up. Shepard's throaty laugh followed her and rang in her ears, deepening the blush that the crew tactfully ignored.

The first thing to hit her when she stepped outside was that Noveria was _cold_. She had never been glad of the cold before but she was now. It meant that she had an excuse to be flushed. Ashley was too cold to make snarky comments and even Shepard was subdued.

That is, until they encountered the security goons. The Commander grinned, a wide, gleeful, childish grin, and casually flipped her pistol in her hand, the picture of nonchalance. Then sauntered forward.

"I'll clear this with your boss," she drawled as the man tightened his grip on his trigger, when suddenly the intercom flared to life.

"Do not shoot!" a voice ordered, sounding panicked. "Let them through!" Reluctantly the security goons put the guns down and slowly Ashley and Liara followed suit, though Shepard kept her pistol in her hand, and even had the gall to wink at the twitchy security chief and poke her tongue out at her.

Liara groaned, the sound muffled by her helmet.

"Shepard," she muttered over intercom.

"Yes?" Shepard asked silkily and she was suddenly choked up and couldn't reply. It was how Shepard spoke to everyone, of course- but it seemed to have special meaning when she said it to her. Or maybe she was just imagining it. Or wishing something into being that wasn't there. Or something. She seemed to speak to her more often and get in her personal space more often anyhow.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice Ashley smirking. The soldier had accepted the aliens on the crew, and gotten especially used to Liara, as she was so often taken on missions with her. Liara's crush had not gone unnoticed.

Hell, everyone on the crew knew about Liara's interest. But there was wide speculation on the extent to which it was returned. The fact was, if you wanted to find Shepard on the Normandy, go to the room beyond the infirmary. She often emerged from there in the morning after watching movies (what nature the movies were of was a matter of intense speculation) and Liara stuttered a _lot_ in Shepard's presence. Joker had a betting pool on how soon Shepard would make her move.

Kaidan never participated in these discussions. They were often conducted in front of Liara or Shepard, and Liara listened intently while pretending to be eating. Shepard just grinned and chipped in every now and again to fuel the fire. Fuelling the fire was her favourite hobby. There was one time when she 'accidently' left her terminal open and her video file was showing. A video file filled with Joker's porn.

It was so _easy_ to light wildfires on the Normandy. They gossiped like a bunch of fishwives.

As the door shut behind them and they stepped into the lobby, which was mercifully warmer, she sighed in relief and Shepard stretched luxuriously, her firm muscles showing through the skintight weave the vanguard wore, and Liara wasn't able to take her eyes off her.

Ashley chuckled and Liara snapped her eyes to the ceiling, praying hard.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: This chapter is unmitigated angst. Angst is my normal writing style, so the fluff so far has been hard-ish, and I'm glad everyone has enjoyed it. This being one of my stories, it had to have at least some angst somewhere. More to come, but hopefully not too much more. I really am enjoying the fluff :)**

**Thanks to all my reviewers and followers and favouriters again. It makes me glow to see all the 'X has favourited/reviewed/alerted your story' emails in my inbox and is really really encouraging. I thank all of you for giving me the incentive to continue :)**

Normally, Liara thought somewhere in the part of her brain that hadn't shut down, they'd be laughing and talking as they made their way back to the ship, glad to get out of the cold. They'd be rubbing their hands together and huddling for warmth when they reached the airlock, and Ashley would be smirking at her as Shepard made disparaging comments about all the people they'd met on this mission. Intellectually she knew that.

However, she didn't feel the cold now and Shepard and Ashley were too quiet behind her, neither sure how to help her.

Mother was dead.

It pounded at her skull every few seconds as her brain tried to assert this fact at the same time as denying it. Mother had been one of the good guys, and she was dead. She'd been prepared to hate her for working with Saren, but the indoctrination had changed that. And now she was dead, despite Shepard's best efforts to save her.

Shepard drew up beside her quietly and she stared bleakly at her friend, who looked painfully helpless. She'd like to help her; but didn't have the foggiest idea how to help herself. It was hard enough to keep breathing. She'd never noticed how hard breathing was before. In and out, in and out, as if through a wooden block that had settled in the pit of her stomach. Her feet were so heavy, like two slabs of ice, that she could barely move them.

"C'mon, Liara," Shepard murmured, nudging her gently with her shoulder, and she suddenly became aware, much to her surprise, that she'd stopped. "The Normandy's just ahead. Not far now."

Her soft voice cut through the anguish spreading through her like a cancer and she nodded numbly as Shepard placed a hand on the small of her back and gently pushed her ahead. This was a new side of Shepard, but not an entirely unexpected one. She truly cared for her people. She let Shepard propel her in the right direction and just focussed on moving.

They were silent as the ship's VI politely requested they wait for decontamination and she leaned against Shepard for support, who wrapped her arms around her. Then the door slid open and Shepard walked her past Joker, past the crew, down the stairs and into the infirmary, Ashley close behind her. Shepard dismissed the woman who saluted and cast Liara a worried look before leaving and letting the doctor handle it.

Shepard sat by the bed for a while as she stared up at the ceiling blankly, numbly. The two humans talked softly, glancing at her, their voices mingling and blending, and she didn't try to understand them. The door opened and shut and Shepard was gone. Footsteps shuffled outside and she heard what must be half the crew asking after her. Then Shepard returned with a tray of food.

"I know it's not the best," she said. "Military rations suck. But I got you chicken- I know you like the chicken. Or at least don't hate it as much as the other ones." She placed the tray on the table and Liara didn't respond. A hissed intake of breath sounded beside her.

"Look, I'm no good at this comforting people thing," Shepard confessed, putting her hand on Liara's. "I don't know what to say. I'm sorry for your loss? It's so distant, so clinical. My sorrow doesn't help anything, does it?" Shepard sighed helplessly.

"Liara…" she stopped there and was silent for a long moment, her hand still on Liara's. Finally she spoke.

"I'm here if you need me."

In reply Liara squeezed her hand.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Thank Cambizzle for this one; it was thanks to them messaging me that I had the motivation to drag myself off my arse and actually write this chapter. As always, thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/alerted this; your continuing support and interest is a huge motivator for me to keep writing.**

As far as Liara was concerned, they'd left Noveria yesterday. Then again, she could have been twenty years old yesterday as well, as her memories were flowing fast and freely and dragging her along with them.

Sometimes Shepard was sitting beside her, chewing her lip and fiddling with her omnitool. Other times she wasn't. Sometimes doctor Chakwas was there, pottering around and humming. Other crew members visited as well, but not as often as Shepard. Shepard occasionally brought food, which Liara ate only because Shepard refused to leave until she did, and often told stories of what had happened since Noveria, that Ashley had a crush on Kaidan, that Kaidan was attempting to flirt with her, that Garrus had broken the Mako- it wasn't _her_ fault that he couldn't fix it after she crashed again, he'd always managed to fix it before... This visit she overheard a conversation between Shepard and Tali; or rather, Tali telling her off politely about messing the settings up for the fifth time.

"Good thing you're on board to fix it then, isn't it?" Shepard shot back at her, but her reply was strained. Absurdly, Liara worried about what was wrong with her. It took her a few minute to twig that _she_ was the problem. She was worrying Shepard. Something was wrong with that. Shepard wasn't supposed to worry about anything. She had too much on her plate already. Liara frowned, irrationally angry at herself.

Tali sighed.

"Fine, bring it down." Shepard grinned suddenly, her sunshine-incarnate grin.

"You're beautiful, Tali. At least, I assume you are under that helmet." Tali's dry laughter ran in Liara's ears for a long time after she stopped laughing. _Buck up, T'Soni. You're better than this, _she chastised herself. Shepard's dry voice replied, full of mirth.

_Apparently not._ She could just see the appraising look that she'd give her, which would have her squirming away from her but freeze her to the spot at the same time. The assessment which would always end with a slow nod of approval and then a wisecrack of some kind. Somehow Shepard's mocking appraisal became her mother's sternness.

_Do something with your life, Liara,_ she'd sigh and her anger flared up. Just like her mother to interfere with her life even after she died!

"Just get down here already." Tali's resigned reply broke her out of her reverie.

"Yes, ma'am!" Shepard saluted sharply and turned to Liara, face falling. She gingerly approached her and laid a careful gloved hand on her shoulder.

"I'm just going down to engineering, okay?" Liara turned to her and nodded. The shock was clear in her friend's face. For what felt like forever she'd just sat lost in her own little world. Then the grin spread slowly across that permanently dimpled mouth.

"And don't mess up your omnitool again. I don't think Tali will fix it next time," Liara added and Shepard laughed suddenly, joy and relief bursting from her every line. She threw her arms around Liara and whooped before hastily drawing back. Liara hugged her back and shooed her out and could hear her friend laughing all the way out of the infirmary.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry I took so long- here's my make up gift :) I've usually focussed on the end of missions but I wanted to write this, set before reaching the STG camp on Virmire... I hope you enjoy. And I'll have a Shep POV soon. As always, thanks to my readers and please review :)**

Virmire was nice; she'd even go so far as to call it picturesque. Sunny, lovely scenery, warm water to swim in (she'd bent down to feel it more than once, and wished she wasn't here on a mission. She could have used a good swim)… it was a paradise. She might have even liked to stay there if it wasn't for the geth.

But of course, there had to be geth.

"Tali, flank left, overload them," Shepard ordered. "Cover behind the Mako if you need to. Don't overload the bloody thing or Garrus'll kill me. Liara, cover my right. Use your biotics to catch any I miss. Make 'em swim."

Both women nodded that they'd understood, so Shepard charged ahead, guns blazing, biotics flying. Liara sent a geth creeping up on her right soaring neatly into the ocean, where it disappeared with an oddly strangled sound; Tali made the gun (and hand) of one on her left explode. It stared at its arm for a moment, the flaps around its 'eye' shifting. Shepard finished it off with little effort and soon the patrol was nothing more than scrap metal.

Shepard cracked her neck as she stretched.

"Good job, guys," she said, pride in her voice. She looked around her, admiring the scenery. "Pretty place," she remarked with a sideways glance at Liara which was either checking her out or worried about her. "You ok?"

Worried, then. Damn.

"Let's just keep moving, Shepard." It wasn't an answer and she knew it; but they were in geth territory and there was no time to pursue it. So Shepard, with another worried glance, this time mirrored by Tali, nodded reluctantly.

"Alright," she said, then issued her orders in her normal field voice- that is, parade ground bellow.

"MOVE OUT!"

Tali winced.

"We're right here, Shepard," she complained. Shepard shrugged.

"Making sure you got the message."

"I think the geth did too," Liara muttered and Shepard laughed as she took point. The pair fell into place behind their fearless leader. A dead geth drifted past them in the current. Grinning, Shepard kicked its head off.

"That one did," she laughed. Tali groaned and playfully Shepard kicked some water back at her. She yelped in surprise.

"Shepard!" Liara felt a smile twist her lips and chuckled a little. Both Shepard and Tali turned to her in surprise. She met their eyes (well, Shepard's eyes and the glowing spots behind Tali's mask) and gave them a smile.

"We still have geth to scrap," she said, lifting her pistol. It was her secondary weapon for when her biotics were cooling down. She was getting better with it, doing target practise with Ashley in the cargo hold between missions, but still, she was far from a military shot. Cheerfully Shepard clapped her on the back with a gloved hand.

"Right you are," she said. "You heard the lady; let's go scrap some geth." The trio set off in higher spirits than before, and Tali flicked water at Shepard every once in a while, and Shepard returned the favour.

"At least I'm not freezing my tits off here," Shepard said optimistically as she reloaded her shotgun after downing another geth.

"Or covered in creeper goo," Liara agreed with a fervent shudder. It had taken hours to get that stuff out. She kept finding bits of it stuck in her head ridges, and had heard Ashley and Shepard complaining for even longer. With it caught in all that hair it was no surprise it took twice as long.

Between them, they'd used nearly two bottles of shampoo after Feros and most of their hot water ration for the week.

"I never go anywhere exciting," Tali sighed. Shepard patted her shoulder.

"You're here, aren't you?" A rude noise escaped Tali's mask and Shepard laughed.

"Be grateful," Liara advised. "Exciting usually involves a trip to the infirmary." Tali snorted.

"And I have enough of those already," she said. "Maybe it's good that you only pay me to babysit the engine."

"I pay Adams to babysit the engine," Shepard retorted.

"So what do you pay me for?" Tali asked dryly.

"To stand around and look pretty, sweetheart."

"Gee, thanks Shepard."

"Seriously- you light it up like a Christmas tree."

"Like a what?" Tali asked blankly. Shepard gasped in mock horror, fastening her hands over her mouth for a second.

"You don't celebrate Christmas? Oh my poor girl!" Tali's bright eyes narrowed beneath her helmet and she took a step towards Shepard.

"What's a Christmas tree, Shepard?"

"Aliens," she sighed sadly instead of answering. "Missing out on all the fun."

"What's a Christmas tree?" Tali persisted and Liara smiled. With friends like this, who could ever need more?


End file.
